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"By John Strege\nGolf is played on a 5 1/2-inch course, Bobby Jones once said, referring to the space between the ears. If he&amp;#39;s correct, why is so little attention paid to the mental side of the game?\nIt was a question that a Phoenix area PGA professional, Tim Suzor, was asking.\nFacebookPinterestThinQ Golf.jpg\n&amp;quot;We&amp;#39;re certainly given a lot of drills for the golf skills,&amp;quot; Suzor said, &amp;quot;but when it came to working on mental skills, the options were maybe a sports psychologist or reading a book.&amp;quot;\nSuzor was working with a tour player on the range one day, having him do focus drills. &amp;quot;He turned around and said, &amp;#39;this is kind of fun. It&amp;#39;s like a video game.&amp;#39;&amp;quot;\nSo Suzor decided to approach Dr. Debbie Crews, an LPGA Master Instructor, a sports psychology consultant, and the chair of the World Scientific Congress of Golf, and asked her, &amp;quot;could we build a video game to learn these skills?&amp;quot;\nThat was the impetus behind the Scottsdale, Ariz., company, ThinQ Golf, a cognitive training website that uses video games to develop mental skills. &amp;quot;Debbie had been doing that research,&amp;quot; Suzor said. &amp;quot;We took her book [&amp;quot;Golf: Energy in Motion&amp;quot;] and turned it into a practical application.&amp;quot;\nIt is similar to Lumosity, a popular brain-training program, though ThinQ Golf was designed specifically for athletes, Suzor said. &amp;quot;We saw what Lumosity is doing and thought, &amp;#39;there&amp;#39;s something here.&amp;#39; They were already building games for surgeons to prepare them for surgery. If they can do it for surgeons, we can do it for golfers.&amp;quot;\nBut does it work?\n&amp;quot;Dr. Debbie&amp;#39;s done some testing to see what side of the brain golfers are using,&amp;quot; Suzor said. &amp;quot;Some golfers are using the left-brain only. She conducted a three-week test on synchronicity, playing the synchronicity game 20 minutes a day, three times a week for three weeks. Those who played the game reported 20 percent more putts made post test compared to those who didn&amp;#39;t play the game. Synchronicity balances the left and right brain.&amp;quot;\nThe cost is $80 for a year&amp;#39;s subscription. &amp;quot;We&amp;#39;re priced right, we&amp;#39;re built for the masses,&amp;quot; Suzor said. &amp;quot;The bottom line really is that the mental game isn&amp;#39;t all that fun to work on, so how do we make it fun? We&amp;#39;re building games and gamification. It&amp;#39;s fun. It&amp;#39;s pretty addicting.&amp;quot;\nFollow @JohnStrege"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.golfdigest.com/story/thinq-golf-dont-forget-the-men>